Council puts focus on transparency

The question of procedural transparency was brought up at last Wednesday's meeting of Moorcroft's governing body; specifically, how Moorcroft's council and public works has been contracting the aeration of soil on all town parks.

Glenn Construction was hired for the job and, in turn, hired Tucker Allison as a temporary employee, who had access to a machine for that work from his full-time job with True Green, a lawn care company. The cost of the contract was less than $3000 and is done annually.

This has been the way the town has conducted this aspect of ground maintenance for at least a couple of years. According to Mayor Ben Glenn, "It was just an easier way to get the machine because [True Green] owns the machine to do it. When we had it bid in the past, it was almost $5000 through the city."

However, Councilwoman Heidi Humpal explained her discomfort concerning the possible lack of transparency about this contract, which she said a couple of constituents have voiced recently.

"I think I'd like to see that cleaned up a little better because I just think [Glenn] doesn't do aeration so it looks a little shady to the public – who's really doing the aerating?" she said.

In a later conversation, Allison said of the situation, "There was nothing illegal about it or nothing bad about it."

Amidst many facetted questions about the handling of the annual agreement, Councilman Dale Petersen addressed the actual problem: "We have to avoid a lack of transparency."

He and most of his fellow council members and department heads had attended a state-mandated class via ZOOM earlier that day, teaching laws and ethics governing their office within the municipal setting. The situation in which the group now found themselves spoke directly to information regarding, among other behaviors, the importance of transparency.

Petersen voiced his thoughts on the bidding process currently in use: "Ben and I have actually talked about the bid process and I think we do a great job on how we do our bid process. I think we're above board and are secure in how we do that. There are some good procedures in place. I think when it comes to the bidding and stuff, I think we're doing some really great things. If there are some things we can clean up a little bit."

Humpal expressed her appreciation with this recognition of the council's efforts to keep the bidding process clean.

Councilman Bob Stewart then asked about cost; with the status quo, he wants more options brought before the body.

"I would like to have [Allison] check to see what that machine would cost us because maybe in the long run, it would be a lot cheaper for the town to have one to run. See what it would cost to rent for two days or what it would cost to purchase one," he said

"I think for the public's side," Petersen said, "that we may not be able to do it that way; these guys may just have to do it. I don't mind the fact that it was done, it's just that we want to make sure that when we do these things, we do them with complete transparency. As far as who gets the bid, if Glenn Construction gets the bid for the town, that's perfectly fine with me."

Humpal agreed, "I'm with Dale, I'd like to see three bids and run it the right way. If Glenn Construction wins the bid, then that's fine."

Stewart assured the audience that he, too is comfortable with Glenn Construction receiving approval for lowest equivalent bid on any municipal work.

With no more discussion, Glenn expressed his willingness to bid the work out next year and Allison will seek other options for finding an aeration machine for the job.

Council questions mowing costs

Continuing the focus on procedural transparency, the council also discussed mowing costs. Moorcroft has signed a contract with Josh Porter to mow the cemetery grounds this season.

However, at last Wednesday's meeting of the town council, Councilwoman Heidi Humpal relayed a question from a couple of her constituents to Public Works Director Cory Allison regarding payments made to crewman Dave Elliott for mowing town property in June.

"Why did we pay Josh and Dave...for mowing [the cemetery]?" she aside.

Allison responded, saying that Elliott had mowed, "Before [Josh's] contract happened - in the beginning of June... [Elliott] did it once and then Josh took over". He told Humpal that "Josh didn't start until the middle of June".

Councilman Austin Smith agreed with this recollection of timing, "After our first meeting."

Humpal expressed her confusion about the apparent double payment to Elliott and she asked how mowing the property one time cost the town $2500.

Elliot had received approximately $2500 for mowing the property twice, according to Allison, and Porter later mowed another portion of the same acreage and was paid accordingly.

Councilman Dale Petersen commiserated with Humpal's concern, "I asked the same question – they didn't overlap."